Where Can You Find Resources and Photos to Identify the Brown Recluse Spider?

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Quick Answer

The University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation and eMedicineHealth websites provide resources with information and photos to identify a brown recluse spider. The brown recluse spider has certain physical characteristics that make them identifiable, including six eyes, a dark violin marking located on its head and thorax region and an abdomen covered with hair.

The brown recluse spider or violin spider belongs to an arachnid group called Loxosceles. This spider has six eyes that are arranged in pairs with one pair located on the front of the cephalothorax (fused head and thorax area) and one pair on each side of this same region. Some other physical features of this spider type are the thin legs without spines and its length, which is about 3/4 of an inch. At the University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources site, there is much more information, as well as photos of this arachnid.

Brown recluse spiders are found in different areas of the United States, including Missouri and other Midwestern states. Recluse spiders tend to hide in homes in areas, such as closets, drawers and dark basements.

Because brown recluse spiders can bite, it is important to know how to identify them. The brown recluse spider's venom is poisonous, according to eMedicineHealth. Although the bite may be painless, symptoms such as pain and itching can develop approximately 4 hours after the bite. The bite also can cause skin scarring or necrotic skin lesions in some people.